In the opening period, it took Fairbanks a little over a minute to score.  Chandler Madry scored on the first shot put on the Magician’s net.  Gorowsky and Tayler Munson got the assists.  The Ice Dogs kept the pressure on the Magicians’ goal and it led to another score three minutes later.  The Ice Dogs’ Lonnie Clary got the goal; Brett Gervais got the assist.  Fairbanks led 2-0 with less than five minutes run off the clock.

In the opening minutes of the second period, the Ice Dogs drew a holding penalty.  The Magicians got some pressure on the power play, but the Ice Dogs killed the penalty and a minute later Fairbanks’ Viktor Liljegren scored to put the Dogs up 3-0.

At that point, the Magicians switched goalies.  Switching goalies seemed to work, changing the game’s momentum.  At the 8 minute mark, the Magicians’ Nick Kuchera/Eagan scored to cut the Ice Dogs’ lead to 3-1.

But a Magicians’ penalty a minute later resulted in an Ice Dogs’ power play goal.  Thirty seconds into the penalty, Fairbanks’ Kyle Lee scored to put the Dogs up 4-1.  The Magicians Eetu Karvinen scored with three minutes to go in the second period to cut the lead to 4-2 and end the scoring.

The third period was scoreless because the Ice Dogs wanted it to be scoreless.  They essentially slowed the game down and threw up a five man road block across the neutral zone.  It resulted in the Magicians getting frustrated and it took them out of their game.

To put the third period in perspective, there were 14 shots on goal by both teams in that period and there were 13 penalties called on both teams.  The more experienced Ice Dogs schooled the Magicians on how to play defensively and let the other team self-destruct.  Eight of the 13 penalties were called on the Magicians.  The Magicians managed only seven shot on the Fairbanks net and had few good scoring opportunities.

The Magicians lost the game.  They have played well in the third period and have won games in the last minutes; the Fairbanks team got the lead going into the third and stopped the Magicians cold using defensive tactics that the Magicians didn’t counter.

As predicted, there were some changes this week in the NAHL’s Midwest Division.  Despite their 4-2 win over the Magicians, last weeks’ division leader, Fairbanks, split their two Minnesota games losing to Central Division leader Austin 2-1 before beating the Magicians 4-2.  That was enough to drop the Ice Dogs to third place this week.

The Magicians loss kept them in fifth place.  The only Midwest Division team below .500 is Wenatchee and they are in sixth place.

Kenai River ran the table at Wenatchee; that was no surprise here.  Kenai beat the Wild 4-3 (in a shootout) Friday, 3-1 Saturday and 4-3 Sunday.

The Brown Bears Alex Butcher led the way in Kenai’s sweeping the Wild.  Butcher scored two goals in Friday’s shootout (Butcher also scored the winning shootout goal); scored one goal and got two assists in Saturday’s 3-1 win; and scored a goal and got one assist in Sunday’s game.  Over the weekend, Butcher added four goals and three assists to his point totals.

Andover’s Chase Perry was in the nets for the Wild against Kenai River for two of games and posted two losses.

The three wins put Kenai in first place.  They hold a 3 point lead over the Wilderness, who as predicted here, swept visiting Janesville 3-1 and 4-2, took over second place.  Kasimir Kaskisuo, the Wilderness goalie, was in the nets for both games and now has an 8-1-2 record, giving up 1.25 goals a game while stopping 95% of the shots on goal.

The Coulee Region came back last weekend.  After striking out the week before, the Chill won both their games beating Janesville 6-3 and Austin 3-1.  Edina’s Adam Carlson was in the nets for the Chills win over Janesville.  The two wins kept the Chill two games above .500.

Alex Butcher’s seven point weekend moved him to the top of the NAHL scoring leaders dropping Austin’s Jay Dickman to second place.  Dickman picked up two assists in Austin’s split last weekend.  Filip Starzynski/Bismarck and Matt Sieckhaus/Amarillo remained tied for third in scoring.  Parker Tuomie, Wenatchee’s top draft pick last June, made his first appearance in the top ten scorers.  He is tied for tenth.

Three players (Butcher, Tyler Gernhofer/Amarillo, and Mac Jansen/Coulee Region) are tied for most goals scored.  Each has 10 goals on the season.  Dickman, last weeks’ leader, fell to fourth place tie with Starzynski and Guillaume Leclerc, Austin’s youngster recruited from France.  Each has 9 goals.

The top two goalies in the league did not change this weekend.  Collin Delia remains on top.  He was in the nets for Amarillo in their 2-1 win over Rio Grande Valley last weekend.  The #2 goalie, the Wilderness’ Kaskisuo, remained in second place with his two wins over Janesville.

Patrick Munson’s 4-2 win over the Magicians moved him into a tie for third with Aberdeen’s Chad Catt.  Catt was in the net for Wings’ 3-2 loss to Brookings.
The Magician’s goalie, Atte Tolvanen, dropped out the top ten last weekend and Wenatchee goalie Chase Perry dropped to #24 in the league with his two losses last weekend.

Kenai River will be in Minnesota for a two game set with Austin.  The series matches the Midwest Division leaders against the Central Division leaders.  It should be a great series with Austin holding the home ice edge.

The second place Wilderness travel to Michigan to play Soo in two game series.  Despite being in fifth place in the North Division, the Soo are an above .500 team and will be tough to beat playing at home.

Fairbanks continues on their road trip next weekend and will play Wenatchee at the Town Toyota Center on the Columbia River.  The Wild will be in for another tough weekend.

Coulee Region has a bye this weekend.  Their two wins last weekend and the bye should really help the Chill regroup for a Thursday game next week against the Magicians.

The Magicians have essentially a five game series with Janesville over the next two weekends with the Coulee Region game sandwiched between the two weekends.  The Magicians play the Jets three times this weekend in Janesville and then the Magicians will host Janesville twice the following weekend at Richfield.

This is a critical series for the Magicians who should win most of the games against Janesville.  The month of November is the Magician’s time to show their tricks; they should have a good month and it starts with Janesville this week.